Share this:

“He’s going to be on the Conservative Party line and he’s going to run an active as possible campaign through November,” Long said on WGDJ. While the party could technically get Lazio off the line by nominating for a judgeship (and him accepting it), Long said he had no intention of doing so. “One of the reasons I haven’t given it any thought is that we had a primary, and he won the primary.”

Long ripped into Paladino.

“I think they [Conservative leaders ] don’t believe and trust that he really believes in some of the things he’s saying. He’s certainly not a movement conservative, he’s never been a movement Republican,” he said. “This guy is not necessarily, and may be just renting, the Conservative philosophy.”

He used the same knock on Paladino that Lazio and Democrats have: that he donated to lots of Democratic politicians prior to his run this year, including Sens. Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton as well as Govs. David Paterson and Eliot Spitzer.

“I don’t remember seeing him in the Reagan campaign. I don’t remember him being a mover and shaker in trying to change Albany, and the evidence is clear…I don’t remember Carl Paladino being at the forefront of any campaign to stop spending or bond issues,” Long said.

Then he went in for the kill.

“He’s more of a caricature than a candidate,” Long said, invoking a lackluster Republican trounced by Gov. Mario Cuomo. “How do you say Carl Paladino in French? It’s, ‘Pierre Rinfret.’”

About Capitol Confidential

Capitol Confidential gathers the best coverage of New York politics and puts it all together. Each section - Capitol, The State Worker, New York on the Potomac, and Voices - represents a unique facet of the political scene. The Capitol section features coverage from the Times Union Capitol bureau. The State Worker is dedicated to state worker issues. New York on the Potomac offers news of interest to New Yorkers from Washington. And Voices features the best of everything else, pointing you to columnists and bloggers from across the Web.